By Chris Kinkaid
The Daily News

Franklinton High School held its inaugural sports camp May 28-31, which allowed the participants to improve, compete and learn more about football, basketball and baseball.
“The idea is to get the kids out to our facility to see what our programs have to offer and meet the coaches and players,” Franklinton athletic director and football coach Jonathan Barber said. “They are our future, so it’s important to get them onboard. A lot of those kids grow up admiring our athletes. They come to football games and they come to basketball and baseball games. They look at those guys as their heroes and now they get to meet them. It’s also about giving back to the community. I feel like there’s been a disconnect with our programs and we haven’t had good turnouts at our games. As an athletic program, we’re trying to bridge that gap and show people that we do care about our community.”
The clinic lasted four days from a Tuesday through Friday.
The first day was football with the second being basketball. The participants took to the diamond on the third day before the clinic wrapped up with a showcase of all three sports on the final day.
Franklinton coaches and players worked the clinic.
Barber said the football part of the camp had some offensive and defensive drills that morning and introduced the participants to the basics.
“In the afternoon, we played Demon Ball and a few other games. We went through a punt, pass and kick circuit. As much as the kids had fun, the older guys enjoyed it too and it was great to see that interaction,” Barber said
Over at basketball, Franklinton coach Brad Oestriecher said the goals are to establish some kind of discipline, get them moving and playing together and let them have fun and learn the game while they’re having fun.
“It’s a great time. The kids love it,” Franklinton basketball coach Brad Oestriecher said. “It’s a good opportunity to show the positives in our programs and kind of get the kids out and about and getting them moving around.”
On the diamond, participants were learning about hitting, physical and mental approaches of hitting, catching and throwing, the benefits of stretching and being ready to play physically and mentally and base running. There was also competition to apply the skills they learned.
Franklinton assistant coach Clay Tageant said the camp is beneficial to everybody.
“We always look forward to it,” Tageant said. “You let kids come out and kind of be a Demon for day or a full week when we have the extended camp. It’s awesome to see these kids come out, have fun and learn.”
Tageant said it is also very productive for their players.
“They get frustrated with us coaches sometimes, but now when they’re having to take on responsibilities as coaches, they finally see like, OK, it’s frustrating when I have to tell someone multiple times to do something. So it’s beneficial all the way around. It’s a great opportunity for the kids in our community to come out and learn some stuff about the game and be around it in some top notch facilities and everybody gets to learn a little bit,” Tageant said.